RMS Talk at University of Toronto Mississauga

tleslie tleslie-RBVUpeUoHUc at public.gmane.org
Fri Jul 6 21:06:30 UTC 2007


On Fri, 2007-07-06 at 14:48 -0400, phiscock-g851W1bGYuGnS0EtXVNi6w at public.gmane.org wrote:
> > Part of the problem lies in the ambiguity that lies in "What does
> > Linux mean?  Kernel?  Or distribution?"

And if you deem it a distro, and use desktop,
then by lines of code it should be referred to as

X11/Linux/Gnu ? or just X11 and drop the linux and gnu part as they
would be so minor :)

Personally I respect and am aware of the contribution of GNU and X11
in Linux, i tried for a time to call it GLX, or gnu/linux/X,
then gnu/linux, but i end up taking the easy way out and just
going with Linux much to RMS hate of that.

I think in print RMS could push (nag) that he get credit,
but verbally, i just wanna talk fast and get my point across,

i use Linux and .....
[not]
i use Gnu/Linux/X11/<various other contribution here> 

i guess RMS would probably say if you want to short form it
when you speak, then say  GNU  and don't even say Linux ..
I wonder if anyone ever asked him that?

Of course where do you draw the line too,
i mean the C programming language has a pretty big 
impact on the GLX to.

-tl



> 
> Excellent point.
> 
> > If the FSF had chosen to create or ally with some distribution (and
> > Debian sometimes appears to be apropos), there would be no argument in
> > them calling the result "GNU/Linux."  What we hear sounds way more
> > like sour grapes.
> 
> I think Linus Torvalds has made the same point.
> 
> But the GNU programs are used in all the distributions, not limited to one
> specific distribution. It's fair to say that the GNU stuff made it
> possible for Linux to supplant Unix in very short order - regardless of
> the distribution.
> 
> There are lots of these 'accidents of history' where an originators name
> gets missed in giving credit for some technical advance. Frequently the
> true originator is (conveniently) deceased, but RMS is still here and very
> willing to argue the point.
> 
> Peter

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